Sewing machine work holder



Feb. 2, 1965 o. A. TRUJILLO 3,168,065

SEWING MACHINE WORK HOLDER Filed Aug. 28, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVENTOR. OSCAR ,4. TRUJ/LLO BWWU A T TOPNE V5 Feb. 2, 1965 o. A.TRUJILLO 3,168,065

SEWING MACHINE WORK HOLDER Filed Aug. 28, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 F/G. F/G7 23a. 23b 23b 3lo. 4 H w INVENTOR. OSCAR A. TRUJ/LLO wwa/ q QWiU/u/Z AT TORNEVS 3,168,065 SEWING MACHINE WORK HOLDER Oscar A. Trujillo, 310Camaritas, South San Francisco, Calif. Filed Aug. 28, 1961, Ser. No.1.343% 1 Claim. (Cl. 112-105) The present invention relates generally toattachments for sewing machines and more particularly to fixtures forholding in place appurtenances, such as the familiar garment hooks andeyes, while they are sewed in place.

One object of the present invention is to provide a sewing machinefixture of general application for various types of sewing machines andfor holding various appurtenances.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a fixture whereinthe appurtenance may be rapidly and easily inserted in place andsecurely held against the fabric to which it is being applied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a selectivelyadjustable fixture for handling various sizes of garment hooks or eyesor other appurtenances.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improvedfixture for holding garment hooks wherein the hook portion, as well asthe eyelet portion of the garment hook, is held firmly to the fabricwhile simultaneously the securing thread is guided over the hook portionto secure the latter to the fabric.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent to those skilled in this art upon a consideration of thefollowing description and accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a bottom view of a fixture embodying features of the presentinvention adapted for holding a garment hook;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the fixture of FIG. 1 with aportion of one jaw broken away for clarity;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the fixture of FIG. 1 shown securing a garmenthook in place;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the fixture of FIG. 1 with the jaws of thedevice spread for insertion of an appurtenance;

FIG. 5 is a perspective of a hook stitched in place;

FIG. 6 is a bottom view of a fixture embodying features of the presentinvention adapted to hold a garment eye; and

FIG. 7 is a side elevational view of the fixture of FIG. 6.

The present invention comprises generally a pair of spring biased jawspivotable upon a frame attached to the head of a sewing machine. Thespring bias forces the jaws together to secure therebetween either agarment hook or eye or other appurtenance as the case may be. Inaddition, where the fixture is designed to hold a garment book, aprojecting hold-down guide nose is provided both to hold the hookportion of the garment hook down upon the fabric to which it is beingsewn and simultaneously to guide the thread under the hook so as tosecure the hook portion, as well as the eyelets, to the fabric.

The specific embodiment of the present invention illustrated in FIGS. 1through 5 as a fixture, referred to generally as 1, adapted to hold downgarment hooks whereas the fixture illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7,designated generally as 2, is designed to hold down garment eyes.

The hook holder 1 comprises a pair of similar jaws 3a, 3b, eachpivotable on a separate pivot 4a, 4b, respectively, secured to a commonbase member 5. The jaws 3a, 3b, are biased by means of spring 6 whichforces their free ends together so that they may hold an appurtenance, ahook 7, for example, between them as illustrated in FIG. 1. Each jawcarries a guide pin 8a, 8b, extending perpendicular to the plane of thebase member 5 to which the jaws are pivoted. The spacing of the jawsagainst the spring bias is controlled by guide plate 9 slidably pinned3,168,065 Patented Feb. 2, 1965 by means of pin 10 in a guide slot 11cut along the longitudinal axis of base member 5.

The position of guide plate h along the axis may be fixedly secured by alever means 12 most clearly illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. Lever means 12pivots on the top side of base member 5 as at 13. An arcuate slot 14having its center substantially at pivot 13 is provided in lever 12embracing a setscrew 15 by means of which lever 12 may be frictionallysecured against base member 5. A cam surface 16 carried on lever 12slidably engages pin 10 and thereby moves the guide plate axially alongthe longitudinal axis of base member 5.

The guide plate, as more clearly appears in FIG. 1, is provided with apair of divergent slots 17a, 17b, respectively, which slidably engageguide pins 8a and 8b, respectively, attached to each pivotable jaw 3a,3b. It will be apparent that axial movement of guide plate 9 slidablydrives pins 8a and 811, respectively, transversely with respect to thelongitudinal axis of base member 5, thereby pivoting the jaws. The jawsare secured in any predeter mined position against the spring bias bytightening setscrew 15.

The hook holder of FIG. 1 also is provided with a downwardly protrudinghold-down guide nose, referred to generally as 18, fixedly secured toguide plate 9 along its longitudinal axis between jaws 3a, 3b. Asappears in FIG. 2 the jaws 3a, 3b, similarly depend downwardly from basemember 5. The free end of nose 18 is provided with a recess 19 whichreceives the hook portion of a typical garment hook 7. The nose also hasan inwardly curved guide surface 26 whereby thread during the sewingoperation is guided over the hook portion of the garment hook. Thetension on the thread developed during sewing pulls the thread snuglyaround the extreme end of the hook portion adjacent the fabric andthereby snugly secures the end of the hook portion to the fabric.

The jaw faces at the unpivoted free ends of jaws 3a, 3b are providedwith detents 21a, 21b, respectively within which the eyelets of thefamiliar garment hook are embraced.

The same general structure is provided in the fixture of FIGS. 6 and 7to hold garment eyes. In the illustrated fixture a pair of jaws 23a,23b, are pivoted on pivots 24a, 24b, from a base member 25. The jaws arespring biased together by spring 26 and have a guide plate 29divergently engaging guide pins 28a, 28b, similar to those of thefixture of FIG. 1. This embodiment of the present invention also haspivoted lever 12 and setscrew 15 securing means. The jaws of the eyeholder of FIG. 6 depend downwardly at one end from the base plate 25, asappears more clearly in FIG. 7, and are provided with parallel jaw facesaskew the longitudinal axis of the fixture. Detents 31a, 31b, in the jawfaces receive the eyelets of a familiar garment eye 27.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the same type ofstructure as illustrated herein may be utilized for holding otherappurtenances while they are being sewn to garments or the like. It isonly necessary to change the shape of the pivotable jaw faces to holddown for example buttons. The foregoing detailed description has beengiven for purposes of understanding only and no unnecessary limitationsshould be understood therefrom. Other modifications of the structure ofthe present invention will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Theinvention is defined in the following claim.

I claim:

A fixture for holding down a garment hook while being machine sewn togarments and the like, including a base member mountable on a sewingmachine; a pair of jaws pivoted from said base member and having anormally adjacent faces at their free ends, each face having a detentopening toward the face of'the other of said jaws and defining avertical restraining surface curved to adapt said jaws about the radiusof the eyelet of a garment hook; spring means biasing the faces of saidjaws together to grasp and retain a different one of the eyelets of saidgarment hook in each of said detents; and a hold-down guide nose rigidlymounted on said base member and centered between the free ends of saidjaws, said guide nose having a downwardly sloping, inwardly curved guidesurface terminating at a recess which opens downwardly 10 underneathsaid guide surface to receive the hook portion of said garment hook,said guide surface adapted to direct a thread tensioned during sewingdownwardly and over the extreme end of the hook portion of said garmenthook. 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,101,134 Lyons June 23, 1914 1,137,122 Dasher Apr. 27, 1915 1,270,966Michener July 2, 1918 1,288,101 Masterson Dec. 17, 1918 1,294,927 McCannFeb. 18, 1919 1,711,607 Lyons May 7, 1929 2,196,833 Lyons Apr. 9, 19403,109,397 Gehringer Nov. 5, 1963

